A Reason to Live
by WingsOfFate
Summary: Harry dies in the final battle against Voldemort but he wasn't supposed to. Now Koenma offers him a second chance at life, but does he want it? Harry Potter Yu Yu Hakusho Crossover HarryYuusuke / YuusukeHarry pairing. AU after OotP.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter or Yu Yu Hakusho, suing me would be like kicking an impoverished student right in the wallet.

**Summary**: Harry dies in the final battle against Voldemort but he wasn't supposed to. Now Koenma offers him a second chance at life, but does he want it?

**Pairings**: Eventual Harry/Yuusuke, possible Hiei/Kurama... Very slight and confused past Harry/Ginny, if I can stomach it.

**Warnings**: Angst, lots of character death for the first few chapters, slash or shonen ai for later on.

**AN**: I spent ages on this story before I got round to the prologue. As it stands I've got more written up for future chapters than the starting ones... must resist urge to time-skip...

* * *

A Reason to Live: Prologue

January 15th 1998

He smiled softly at the pool, trailing one hand through the azure water as the images displayed there shifted at his touch. The smile became bitter-sweet as familiar faces formed in the water's depths.

_A laughing red head, his painfully blue eyes alight with pleasure as he verbally sparred with a bushy haired brunette, his gangling form dwarfed her smaller one with an almost protective stance even as she scolded him. The slightest twitch of her lips betrayed her true feelings._

_Hogwarts was beautiful at night. The glowing lights from the castle windows casting firefly-like shimmers upon the tranquil lake; The Giant Squid waved it's tentacles in tribute to the feast taking place in the great hall. Harry sat on the banks of the lake, waving back at the squid with a grin, getting fondly exasperated looks from the two teens at either side of him as he tossed the guardian pieces of bread and chicken. "That's your dinner, Harry!" The brunette chastised, "you're never going to grow if you don't eat-"_

_Those painfully blue eyes were looking straight at him, unwavering. "We can't beat You Kn-_Voldemort_for you mate, but we _can_ help you do what you have to do-"_

"_Don't think we'll let you do this alone, we're the Gryffindor Golden Trio, remember? The only thing that'll separate us is-"_

_Death. It permitted the very air with it's stench. Blood saturated the ground and leaked sluggishly into the lake, turning the edges sanguine with it's pigment. He left arm hung limp at his side, the muscle torn but the wound no longer gushing blood- healing charms weren't his forte but an _incendio_ hex worked well enough to seal the wound, a potion took care of the pain. He needed to have his focus for this-_

_Battle was wearying He wanted it to end. Not a reprieve, not an intermission or another silence before the storm. He wanted it to end, so he could start rebuilding-_

_His world crumbled down around him. _He_ was dead, after everything he had finally killed the bastard, shoved a hand through his chest, lacing his skin with every ounce of his magic, his pain and anguish and hopelessness, every drop of his life-force surged to the call of his memories. Painfully blue eyes shone out from under an over-grown russet fringe, all the more painful when glazed over in lifeless sight. Warm brown eyes were more surprised than scolding now, the feathery mane of a matching shade limp on the ground, spread out like a halo around her eerily pale face. They weren't coming back, no matter what he did they would never-_

"-come back Harry-kun."

The reality playing out beneath his fingers flickered away in apologetic ripples. Harry blinked, surprised to find that his lashes disturbed moisture there. He wiped away the tears from his face in what he hoped wasn't an obvious gesture before turning to the person behind him.

"Oh, hey Botan, what's up?"

* * *

Rekai's head Ferry-girl wasn't her usual self today. True, her soul delivery count was as high as ever (she had a reputation to uphold after all) and her cheery smiles still blinded the ogres in the hallway, but she didn't feel like she was doing her job well enough. Her smiles felt painfully fake. 

The object of her uncharacteristic depression was still in Purgatory, even though she had carried his soul over two weeks before. Purgatory was the bridge between Life and Death: a multi-tiered network of spider web walkways, connecting floating pools that showed the world below- both the past and the present. It was not a place a soul was meant to stay for any substantial length of time.

But Harry James Potter was an unusual case: his death had not been preordained, per say, but rather his possible death had been scheduled- along with the possible death of one Tom Marvolo Riddle. Botan bit her lip in thought, flying through the upper tiers of Purgatory with unhurried grace, her side saddled loop-the-loops half hearted and -by her standards- bordering on sloppy.

"They weren't both supposed to die," Botan muttered, shifting slightly to avoid one of the tier pillars- a thread thin support that wouldn't have held up anything in Ningenkai, well, nothing fully corporeal at least. The Reaper sighed "Stupid prophecies, if I had clearance I'd go give those silly Fates a piece of my mind, messing up their job like that- if _I'd_ done something like that, King Enma would have my oar, but nooo, the Fates are above that- too stuck up to do their job properly is more like it..."

Caught up as she was in her not-so-internal rant, Botan at first didn't realise where she was heading- right towards the object of her discontentment. He was kneeling by one of the seeing pools, one that showed memories of a spirit's life, as opposed to the other kind that acted like a window to the world below. Botan knew from previous conversations that Harry had little reason to want to see the land of his birth -war-torn as it was- and few people he cared to watch over: all those most important to him had perished, either in the battle that had claimed his own life or one of the raids that had taken place before that. 'His parents died to defend him, his remaining family shunned him... then when he finally found a place to call home and people that understood him, he barely had time to cherish them before they were taken from him.' Botan slapped a smile in place of her frown, if there was one thing that Harry Potter hated more then anything, it was pity.

The Reaper alighted beside the teen's kneeling form, vanishing her oar out of habit. "Harry-kun, why, fancy seeing you here! Hope you don't mind me dropping by for a chat like this..."

Harry was unresponsive.

"Harry-kun? Are you alright?" Botan edged forward, concerned for her self appointed charge. "Harry-kun?" The eyes were all the indication Botan needed to make a diagnosis of Harry's condition, eyes that were ordinarily a startling green were dulled to a less fantastic shade and were unfocused. The pupils had disappeared.

'This is exactly the reason why souls aren't meant to stay in Purgatory for so long, how are we supposed to keep them safe when with every day that passes, they grow more attached to a reality they can never have again?'

Knowing that she would startle him if she shook him, Botan instead called out to deceased wizard softly, lacing her words with her own brand of Reaper magic so that they would be more effective.

"I know it's a lonely place you're in right now, but that doesn't mean you can give up. Listen to my voice and come back, Harry-kun."

The effect was almost instantaneous. The wizard gasped as the illusion shattered, his eyes regaining colour with every startled blink. When he surreptitiously wiped away tears, Botan knew that his pupils would have already shown themselves again. The danger of losing him completely had passed.

"Oh, hey Botan, what's up?" Despite the fact that the Reaper was terrible at detecting lies, even she could see that Harry's smile was terribly forced.

She tried to be nonchalant. "Oh, nothing much I suppose- same as usual really, I'm in my busy, busy, bee mode!" She waved her arms to emphasise and was rewarded with a smile a little less strained. "Anyway, I just popped by to see how you were doing-" 'wah, dangerous ground!' "- b, because I wanted to see if you wanted to come with me to the Palace! See a bit more of Reikai on the way.." 'Phew, nice save, Botan, last thing I want is for him to start getting defensive.'

Harry shrugged, "I don't really mind staying here, I've already seen the Palace anyway."

"Oh pish posh! That was a slap dash event before, you were rushed in and out before you even got to see the Gate of Judgement up close! This time will be much more fun- we can fly low over the river Styx and there's a really pretty patch of water lilies in one of the lakes near there, not to mention the Palace is absolutely spectacular when you get a chance to really take it in-"

Harry held up his hands in surrender, "okay, okay, you have me convinced, Botan, I'll come with you." His smile finally reached his eyes and Botan took a moment to appreciate just how handsome the genuine smile really was.

"Well okay-dokey then!" Botan said excitedly, materialising her oar with a flick of her wrist, a bouncy little hop later and she was seated on her bottom's perch of choice. "Come on slow poke, some of us have limited breaks you know!"

"Well, actually, Botan... I was wondering if I could drive this time?"

* * *

Koenma, Prince of Reikai and Overseer of souls sat in his plush leather chair (or 'throne' as he preferred to call it), ignoring stacks of paper work taller than himself (even in his teenage form), frantically trying to get his DVD player to work. 

"Oh for the love of- I just want one episode, just one! How am I supposed to do my paperwork if I don't get my Sailor Moon fix!" **(1)** In a fit of frustration he threw the remote, satisfied when it made a distinctive 'clink' sound as it struck the glass of his dimensional screen- for all purposes looking to be nothing more than a garishly coloured, eye shaped television screen floating in the air.

"Well, I suppose there's no excuse now... I hate Mondays." The demi god picked up the bane of his existence and began the process of stamping the documents in front of him, a job that was better suited to a half trained chimp... or one of his less intelligent ogres.

As the Junior Lord of the Dead was just beginning to contemplate suicide -or at least a sugar binge- the automatic sliding doors of his office opened with a welcome 'swoosh' and his chief Grim Reaper bounced in in all her pink clad glory (her hair slightly more wind blown than usual), a less cheerful but ultimately more graceful companion following behind. "Ah, Botan!" Koenma exclaimed, not succeeding in the least to keep the thankful tone from his voice, "what brings you here?" What indeed brought the ferry girl here at such a time? It was a little known fact that if there was anyone you could rely on to keep to schedule in Reikai, it was Botan. Glancing at his clock Koenma noted that it was at least two hours before she was due to make her report for the day on the progress of soul ascension in her district.

"Lord Koenma sir? This is Harry Potter, the young man who acted as the second variable in the prophecy case from England." The blue haired spirit was evidently phrasing her words carefully, as though she was present at a particularly bloodthirsty 'diplomatic conference' in Makai... or she was trying to keep a friend from harm. Koenma took in the body language of his most trusted Reaper and concluded that the latter was more likely than the former- two hundred years of working together did help them a bit with their silent communication skills after all.

"Just the man I wanted to see," Koenma only partly lied- the dark haired teen was an intriguing individual but he was ashamed to admit that the existence of him had actually slipped the Demi God's mind, what with the usual hustle and bustle of the Palace and the added stress of hiring a new Spirit Detective. Koenma frowned in contemplation, perhaps it would have been better to save that position for Potter-san after all; despite his new employee's potential, he wasn't too sure if he was up to the job.'There may be a way to get around that botched up prophecy after all.' "Potter-san, are you aware of the employment of the new Spirit Detective, Urameshi Yuusuke?"

"Yes, Botan informed me of him and the circumstances of his 'employment'." The deceased wizard did not attempt to mask his disapproval with a friendly tone. Koenma wondered if his disapproval sprang from the fact that Yuusuke (a school-skipping street punk) was resurrected whilst the saviour of the Wizarding World still wandered purgatory, or whether the _slight_ blackmail of said newly employed Spirit Detective was the reason for the wizard's ire.

"It was a difficult decision to make Potter-san, without the promise of a new defender for Earth, my father would have never authorised the boy's resurrection. Not only that but he actually has the potential to be a proficient Detective- with some more experience anyway. I plan to start him off with simple cases and work him up to something more difficult-"

The wizard chuckled lightly, evidently amused. "Somehow I don't think that you're going to be able to hold back every rogue demon and apparition wanting a crack at the new Spirit Detective, least of all the ones that are above Yuusuke's current ability level." He tilted his head back, viewing Koenma through charcoal lashes, his eyes glowed a chilling jade. "So, what does this kid have to do with me?"

Koenma tensed, trying not to shift under the weighted stare of the spirit before him. "I have a proposition for you, Potter-san. As you know, the gates of the afterlife have barred you entrance and as your body was destroyed upon your death, your transition into the world of the living would be far more complicated than Yuusuke's." He paused, fixing the young man in his amber gaze, for once plainly exhibiting the wisdom that seven hundred years of life had granted him. "As you have no choice but to remain in Reikai for the time being, I wish to offer you the position of secondary Spirit Detective and all the training and resources that the position would entail. While you hone your skills we will create you another body- an exact replica of the one you possessed before your untimely demise." The young God smiled around his power blue pacifier. "In fact, your new body will be even better than the one you had before you died, death heals all ailments after all."

Harry snorted, the short burst of laughter devoid of all vestiges of humour. "And why would I want to be a Spirit Detective- hell, why would I even want to live again? I have _nothing _left, _no_ _one _to return to!" He clenched his fists, causing the knuckles stand out starkly white, even against the pale silver of the 'skin' he possessed in his spiritual form. "Every person I have ever loved is DEAD- most died right in front of me-" he choked "and I stayed alive, I kept fighting but for _what_?" His eyes flashed with unrestrained emotion, blazing through the tears he barely managed to rein in. "I'm always the one to go on, but I don't know why I keep surviving." He shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself, trying to ward against the cold that enveloped his twisting insides. "I never even got to see them, I survived too long, they passed beyond the Gate before I got to say goodbye."

"Oh, Harry-kun," Botan, tears in her own eyes rushed to comfort her new (but already very dear) friend, she wrapped him in the swathes of her silken sleeves and pulled his head to her shoulder, not caring in the least when the dam broke- his tears cascading down his cheeks to wet her kimono. He stumbled, his knees ready to give out beneath him- the only thing keeping him upright was sheer force of will. Botan just held him tighter, letting him lean on her as she whispered meaningless comforts.

"I- I have no reason...no purpose, I have no one left to protect or to care for from...before." He gave Botan the most saddening smile she had ever seen and she felt her heart clench- forgetting in that moment that she didn't posses a living heart.

"Harry-kun, you can't stay here forever. You need to leave, live and learn to enjoy life once again. It will hurt to go on w- without _them_ but oh Gods, Harry, I- I promise you'll see them again- even if I have to tear those stupid gates down myself- I swear you'll join them for eternity and more and be happy!" He had become dear to her in the two weeks since his passing, finding his soul on the bloodied fields of Hogwarts, staring blankly at his scattered viscera had been as heartbreaking as anything she had seen in her time as a Grim Reaper. What hurt more was Harry's acceptance of his fate and the longing he had simply to die- to go beyond the Gate of the afterlife and never live again. But the Gate had barred his passage and not even Enma could get them to open for the wizard's spirit. Those soulless Fates were up to something again but Botan would be damned herself if she let them mes with the afterlife of one of her precious few friends. She hugged Harry tight and swore she would do everything within her power to restore his happiness.

Harry choked a laugh. "Somehow it's not hard to picture you knocking those gates down all by yourself, Botan...thank you." He pulled away from her to wipe away his tears then took a shuddering breath, steadying his resolve for what he was to commit to. "What the fuck, it's not like I've got much to lose." He shrugged, and though such a gesture is usually nonchalant, with Harry it seemed almost painful. He meet the Godling's gaze, his eyes a cold, unfeeling jade. "I accept your proposition, Koenma. I'll do your dirty work, I'll sully my soul and be a weapon again... just... please, give me a reason to live."

* * *

"He looks different from the last time I saw him, Botan. I thought time would help heal him but his stay in Purgatory seems to have made him worse than ever." 

"He is beginning to accept his grief, sir. What you saw before was the martyr of the Wizarding World. Now it's just Harry-kun."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Botan."

"Sir?"

"Have you read the reports on Potter-san, Botan?"

"Only the basic death records sir."

"I'll send you the files when you get back then."

"...Back from where sir?"

"Diagon Alley has recently opened for business again and, as much as I hate to admit it, the Japanese Wizards don't have anything on the intricacy of the British made artefacts. Here's the list."

"Is all this necessary, Koenma-sama?"

"I believe so. It may be the only way to keep him sane." **(2)**

* * *

**(1):**Apparently the makers of Yu Yu Hakusho and Sailor Moon got married (yeah, a pretty unlikely match considering the differences of their anime series) Koenma also dressed up as Tuxedo Mask for the Makai Tournament in the final season, I'm guessing Koenma is a pretty big a fan of the cutesy series.

**(2**): All will be made clear in time but not for a while yet, any guesses as to what Koenma and Botan are talking about will be much appreciated, I'd like to see how vague or transparent I'm being.

Anyone that wants to catch any updates for this series and others I have in the works go check out my livejournal which is listed as my homepage in my profile, I'll put partial chapters and ideas there before I post here.

**  
**

**  
**

**  
**

**  
**

**  
**

**  
**


	2. Finding Your Feet

Chapter One: Finding Your Feet

There was something that had to be said for productiveness, for filling voids with schedules, routine, countless simple little tasks to wait away the day.

Harry certainly had a void to fill.

As a spirit he didn't really have to sleep, barely even needed to rest. His days were filled with sparring practice and his nights were spent learning the Japanese language from tapes and books that Botan had picked up for him. So far he hadn't managed any more than the basic pronunciation and a few simple phrases. If the personnel of Reikai were not equipped with Enma's version of a translation charm (death was multi-cultural after all) he would be completely lost. Then again, the reason Harry hadn't requested one of his own was so that he would have something to do when he wasn't training, when everyone else was busy or asleep and he was left to ponder his life or lack there of.

Yes, the little things in life can be very distracting Harry noted as he turned a page of his 'Teach Yourself Japanese Script' book; currently he was using one of the aforementioned little things to distract himself from one of life's little problems.

Seiji, a blue haired up start from Enma's SDF leaned over the table Harry currently sat at, carrying himself with all the unprecedented self assurance that Draco Malfoy had once possessed, before the whole bouncing ferret incident and the small matter of his father being thrown in Azkaban.

Harry gave Seiji another once over. No, this guy was definitely worse.

"Ne, Harry-kun, you are Harry-kun, right?"

The spirit turned the page of his book, ah, so the small 'tsu' in the hiragana alphabet was not pronounced, it simply acted as a pause...

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Obviously stonewalling wouldn't work on this idiot. "Yes, I'm well aware of that, was there something in particular you wanted?" The man shifted his body so the way he was leaning over the desk was both provocative and intimidating. Harry was not impressed.

"I heard that you were being trained by Katsurou-sama, are you trying out for the division, Harry-kun?"

"Katsurou-_san_ is tutoring me, yes." Harry turned the next page, onomatopoeic words now, who knew that Japanese could be so cute- even this rather simplistic book taught you how to spell 'kyaa'. "And please don't address me so informally, we do not know one another."

"Ah, I forgot that you are not familiar with Japanese yet, 'kun' is an appropriate title for a younger male or a subordinate- in business terms of course. If you are indeed training with the General then I guess that makes me your 'senpai'. Are you familiar with the term?"

"I am not your subordinate, nor am I Katsurou-san's. The suffix of 'kun' is not appropriate and neither is your use of my given name, now excuse me, Cadet-san I should return to my studies."

Harry rose, deciding it would be better to find somewhere else to read, maybe he could shake this idiot off if he sat outside the Gate of Eternal Torment?

A hand closed around his wrist, bruisingly tight, ah, he'd forgotten that it wasn't just Reapers that could touch him in the spiritual realm. "I'm not done with you, Harry-_kun_."

"Cadet!"

Suddenly the pressure was gone and Harry resisted the urge to rub his wrist to restore feeling to it.

"Katsurou-sama! I can explain-"

"Really, Cadet, so you can explain why you were harassing Potter-san without cause? Never mind that you are doing so during the morning drills, which, until you move past your current rank, you are not exempt from."

"Sir, I-"

"Return to the training room before I am forced to demote you, consider yourself lucky that I haven't decided to do so anyway for your actions against Potter-san."

"Yes sir." He gave a crisp solute to the General and a barely concealed sneer was thrown in Harry's direction as he left the library.

Katsurou sighed, relaxing his military stance. "Sometimes I wish I didn't have men like him in my unit- ah, forgive my outward thinking, Potter-san." He did not seem very apologetic but Harry was getting used to polite backstabbing as part of office politics.

"Not at all, I find myself agreeing with you." Harry took in the General's appearance, his light brown hair not pristinely parted to the side in his usual style, his uniform creased and his eyes shadowed with fatigue. Knowing that drawing attention to the General's appearance would be an insult he kept the conversation neutral. "How long has that cadet been in your division, Katsurou-san?"

"Seiji will be approaching fifteen years of service soon, in my opinion it has been fifteen years too long."

The wizard frowned, "I thought that you had control over the recruitment procedures of the SDF."

Katsurou sighed, "unless Enma-ou decides to step in himself I have full control of the men and women protecting Reikai. Unfortunately for me, Seiji caught my Lord's attention and is now firmly rooted in the force."

"What did he do to deserve-"

"Harry-kuuuun!" The clacking of zori sandals on the marble floor echoed as Botan disregarded her demure walk to run the last stretch towards them.

"Sorry I'm late, I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long- Oh hello Katsurou-san, how are you?"

The General grinned widely, privately amused. "I am perfectly alright Botan-san, though I am afraid I'm running late for something, if you'll excuse me." He bowed politely to Botan, nodded in Harry's direction and left the library briskly.

'Well that was odd, he didn't seem in a rush before...' Harry thought. 'Has it got something to do with how tired he was?'

"Hey Botan, is something going on right now? Katsurou-san seemed pretty stressed."

Botan blinked rapidly, the touch of mascara on her lashes clouding her sunrise eyes. "Um, didn't you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Well, maybe it's better if we go outside for this," Botan glanced at the librarian, looking very put out with the continuing conversation on the other side of the desk, stacking paper work with her painted clawed hands, muttering to herself about inconsiderate youngsters disrespecting her library. The ogress reminded Harry so strongly of Madam Pince that it was almost painful.

Reikai's top Reaper (the polls were in and she would rein supreme for another consecutive year thank you very much) led Harry away after he'd shelved his book randomly, knowing no one went into the section for Insect Demonology from 67000BC to 66000BC. As she led the spirit down a corridor identical to the rest in the Palace, Botan began recollecting what had taken place in the last twenty-four hours.

"So let me get this straight, three demons not even ranking C-class broke into Reikai's ridiculously over protected vault, stole three devastating artefacts and are now plan to use them to destroy mankind?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Huh. That's annoying."

"An- '_annoying'_!? Harry-kun, this is a serious matter!"

"I know it is, but there's not much I can do about it is there? I am kinda tied up here, being dead and all."

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, don't apologise, please." 'It's not _your _fault I have my foot permanently lodged in my mouth'. "I'm the one acting like a prick." Botan blushed and Harry suddenly remembered he wasn't in England any more and that certain terminology was not used in polite conversation. He decided to change the subject. "Did you do something different with your hair?"

The blush deepened. "Y-yes, I parted it to the side and braided it, I felt like something different is all."

Harry smiled down at her, glad he hadn't embarrassed himself with his painful foreignness. "It looks nice. You should do it more often."

The Reaper smiled down at her tabi clad feet, "thank you, Harry-kun."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, I've been going over the suffixes in that book you gave me, san, kun, sama and stuff like that. It said that once you're well acquainted with someone you can stop calling them 'san'. I didn't know the titles when I first met you so I've just kept calling you 'Botan', now we're friends though, can I call you 'Botan-chan'?

Harry was blinded by the Reaper's smile. "I would like that, Harry-kun."

"Aragatou gozaimasu, Botan-chan."

Botan giggled.

* * *

It wasn't until some time later that Harry gave much thought to the three thieves that had so easily plucked such devastating artefacts from the vaults of Reikai; it was only when the two remaining members of the law-breaking trio were brought before Koenma that he even remembered they existed. His sleepless days and nights were still consumed with study and training but since Botan had been called away more and more often to help the new Spirit Detective the obsession was largely unrestrained, to the point that even Koenma was beginning to worry. The wizard supposed, despite all his childishness and tantrums, the son of Enma possessed genuine caring- not that it wasn't annoying as hell (the pun is intended, live with it. Or don't as the case may be).

It was in this manner that Harry had been roped into helping Koenma with his paperwork- how an act of benevolent charity could disintegrate into sadistic torture, Harry had no idea. He was pretending to shuffle through a series of reports on how global warming had effected the immigration of demonic algae when the thieves were brought in. Harry kept his eyes on the report and twisted the translation ring on his finger from 'written word' to 'spoken word'- the only one left in the Reaper supply closet had been an older model and it wasn't as multitasking as the ones most people had here.

"Well, all I can say is that you are very fortunate that my father is taking some time off at the moment-" ('when is Enma not bunking off work?' Harry thought, 'it's about the only thing that he and his son share in common') "-because I can assure you that if he were the one sentencing you today the punishments you received would be far harsher than the ones I will issue. My father always was one for brimstone before a trial." Koenma sucked on his pacifier pensively as he peered down at the two demons before him- he had donned his teenage form on this rare occasion, though Harry wasn't sure if it was for the sake of stately presence or because he was merely tired of having people laugh at him in his younger form.

Harry glanced up from the papers he held (now containing little more than gibberish without the translators help) and observed the prisoners. They stood side by side, flanked by ogres that seemed far more nervous to be guarding them than the demons were to be held captive. Though he has seen their mug shots and perused their personal files (both incredibly slim for beings that were, for the sake of argument, immortal) their real selves standing just metres from him were far more tangible and served to shatter the perceptions that he had already constructed about them in his mind.

Hiei, despite his aloof exterior was not the bloodthirsty killer that Harry had seen when he fought Yuusuke in Koenma's screen a few days ago.He seemed changed somehow- his body perfectly controlled like any true martial artist but it was no longer coiled so tightly it would snap. His eyes were deep pools of garnet, the pupils no longer dilated to the point of you being unable to see little more than the white cornea from a distance. He seemed less crazed: calmer despite his captivity. Just as he was thinking that, those startling ruby eyes snapped in his direction and Harry had to remind himself not to flinch or take cover under his small side desk; despite the change, Hiei was obviously still an uptight individual and did not appreciate being analysed.

He turned his attention to Kurama -or 'Shuuichi' as his human mother had named him. He stood poised like a dancer, his long, vibrant red hair was pristine, contrasting alongside Hiei's ebony and ivory spikes that could give even the Potter family bed-head a run for its money. The reincarnated Youko surveyed the room and its occupants with a calculating gaze that was skilfully hidden by a veil of projected innocence and good humour. If Harry was not so desensitised to Dumbledore's twinkle he would have been suitably fooled.

Koenma continued his speech, unaware of his acting secretary's observations, in fact, the junior God had likely forgotten he was in the room. "Your crimes are severe, however" his amber eyes flicked between the captive's faces "certain circumstances must be taken into account."

Harry was reminded of Dumbledore, for once not his manipulations or legimens intrusions but the base sense of compassion- his willingness to give even the most unsavoury of characters a second chance. The deceased wizard hoped that it would not be the Godling's downfall as it had been his headmaster's; Koenma lacked the underlying coldness that Dumbledore had possessed that had been willing to sacrifice others in the name of the greater good- from what Harry had seen so far of Koenma's better side he didn't believe the God was cut from the same cloth.

Then again, Harry had been wrong before.

* * *

"Botan-chan, are you _sure_ you're alright?" Harry asked again, shifting the weight of the large stack of paperwork in his arms as he walked alongside his favourite Reaper.

"For the last time, Harry-kun- I'm perfectly fine." Botan said with a hint of exasperation, the first few times had been sweet but this was about the eighth and it was starting to wear a little thin. "It's not like my living body wasn't patched up anyway- there's not even a scratch on it any more."

Harry frowned at the nonchalance "Botan," he said, skipping the suffix "your reiki was almost completely drained trying to stop Yukimura-san turning into a demon, your hands were fried by Hiei's backlash youki and you never even told me!"

The Reaper's living heart dropped into her stomach and Botan suddenly remembered why so few of her friends wanted a living construct themselves- the pangs of a living body were so painfully _confusing_. "I didn't think it was serious enough to worry you, Harry-kun." She finally said, very interested in the corridor floor.

"Botan-!" The wizard pulled up short, closing his eyes as he pulled back his anger. He put the stack of files and loose paper on the floor, not caring when a few sheets slipped from the pile. He gripped her shoulders so she made eye contact, blushed sunset met emerald. "Botan-chan, please-" he swallowed "you are my only friend in this place- the only friend I have that's kind-of-sort-of living" that got a choked giggle to slip out past the Reaper's shock at the close proximity. "Please, Botan-chan, if you're hurt I want to know about it. I'll only worry more if you don't tell me and I find out later."

"H-hai, Harry-kun" Botan stammered, feeling the weight of his hands on her shoulders, sinfully aware of the closeness of her crush's heart-shaped face, his rumbled black locks that fell past his ears and the forest-emerald-jade eyes that were begging her to understand what he felt. "I'll tell you if anything happens again."

He sighed with relief. "Thank you" he said and pulled her into a hug.

If she hadn't already know the Gate of Eternal Paradise was on the other side of Reikai, Botan might have thought she'd died and gone to Heaven.

* * *

Harry wasn't entirely sure what had prompted Botan to drag him along to her weekly tea sessions with her Reaper friends, though he suspected she thought he was over-working as Koenma's butt monkey and needed a break. Her attempted kindness was possibly the most stressful thing to happen to him all week and the call centre ogre strike had been pretty bad.

The spirit soon discovered these get-togethers were an almost religious event and took place without fail every Tuesday for an hour or so- baring natural disasters that disregarded the girl's schedule and called for them all to put in over time in the inconvenient way death generally did. Personally Harry would have preferred it if she'd let him go to the library or training halls; he liked Botan but he wasn't comfortable with large groups of people and large groups of _girls_ unnerved him even more.

"-and so then she dumped the whole pitcher on him and said 'if you wanted an underwater wedding maybe you should have told me you were amphibious in the first place!'" Ume finished her story with a flourish, flicking her long purple hair over one shoulder and chucking back her tea like it was so much sake (prohibited unless the girls were on official leave- it wouldn't do to have a Reaper flying under the influence after all).

"Ooooh!" Botan clapped appreciatively, candy floss eyes alight with the look that infected all members of the female population when faced with the subject of tragic love or rocky relationships. "Did they get back together in the end?"

"Three weeks later they had a simply _gorgeous_ wedding on this secluded little beach in the Caribbean, the entire family of sea serpents turned up to give their blessing." Ume sighed dreamily.

"True forms?" Ayame asked in her usual deadpan, blowing on her tea to cool it.

"Well yes, most of them stayed in the water -did some pretty impressive manoeuvres when the fireworks started too- I think the brother of the groom was in tuxedo, best man and all that." She did a little swoon, one hand on her heart "he was soooo cute! Seriously, I wouldn't have minded if he'd taken _me_ down to the depths, I certainly wouldn't have kicked up a fuss about it either."

"You don't have a respiratory system." Ayame pointed out.

"Or a fur tail- I hear those can be a nightmare when they get wet." Botan added sagely.

"Well yes, I guess there is that..."

Harry glanced at the clock in a seemingly nonchalant manner: only four minutes had passed since he'd last looked. Bugger.

"Such a wonderful love story, I guess something good can come from an attendant choking to death on a shrimp, not to mention the out of body experience the bar waitress had." It's not like a Reaper would have been able to snoop on events unless there was death involved after all.

Ume chose this moment to launch herself over Ayame's lap (the black clad reaper leaned out of the way- still maintaining seiza) and hug the un-life from Botan. "That's the spirit, Bo-chan!"

Harry stared into the green depths of his own tea (untouched for obvious reasons but poured for the sake of 'including' him) and tried to decipher the streams of unexplainable babbling sailing right over his head. This was harder than any code he's studied after leaving Hogwarts with the Auror division, if the Death Eaters had been using _t__his _in the second war they wouldn't have stood a chance in figuring out their movements.

This moment of contemplation was all Ume needed to steer the conversation in a different direction. "So, Harry-kun, do _you_ know any good stories?"

This was the first time he'd been directly addressed at the get-together so far and he felt rather like a snidget caught in a Quidditch match. "Um, not really."

For some reason Botan took offence to that. "Don't be silly, off course you know lots of stories, Harry-kun!"

"Nothing like the sea serpents- I don't know any love stories."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing," Ayame pointed out dryly, she evidently enjoyed that sort of thing less than her peers. Harry felt an immediate kinship to her.

"Oh, come on, tell us something about _your_ life!" Ume pleaded, clasping her hands together and sending him waves of puppy dog eyes. "You must know some good ones, you were a wizard right? That's got to interesting!"

Botan started to look uncomfortable, "We shouldn't ask Harry-kun if he doesn't want to..."

The guilty expression that the Reaper sent her unfinished tea was enough to clinch Harry's decision. He sighed inwardly, already categorising which topics would be safe ones. "I guess it started when I got my got my Hogwarts letter at eleven, before that day I didn't know I was a wizard although strange stuff always seemed to happen around me..."

* * *

Later, after he had relayed the events of his first year at Hogwarts, much to the delight of the Reapers -Ayame was particularly pleased at the genre shift- Harry walked back with Botan in the direction of the main library, from there Botan would clock in for her regular duties and start another day of ferrying the wayward souls to Reikai.

"That was really brave of you, Harry-kun." Botan intoned softly to her clacking zori sandals. "You didn't have to talk about anything but you did."

Harry shrugged, keeping his eyes ahead as he tried to remember the route to the library- this place was a maze. "It felt good to talk about it- about them. First year was full of mostly good memories anyway and it's better to remember them, and talk about them and stuff."

Botan bit her lip "but Ume wanted you to tell stories the next time too" she knew better than to say 'next week' as there was never any guarantee they could meet every seven days. "What are you going to do when it gets to the point-"

"I'll be fine" Harry interrupted, ending the conversation.

"...Alright then." They continued on in silence for a while until Botan suddenly drew to a stop in front of an oak paneled door- not unlike the others in the older part of the palace which hadn't been updated to the levels of the main offices such as Koenma's room or the open plan rooms where the ogres worked. "I just remembered..." Botan breathed before her face suddenly lit up like a tree at Christmas "Harry-kun, I know just how to cheer you up!"

"Cheer... Botan, I don't need cheering up-" Botan had already opened the door and dragged him inside.

She flicked the lights, revealing a large circular room painted in that odd shade of green that popped up all over Reikai and in every inch of the space were shelves, pigeon holes and cubbies filled with... "Nests?"

"Yup!" The Reaper bobbed her head happily. "Every nest contains the egg of a Spirit Beast, they all lie dormant until Koenma-sama connects the egg to someone's reiki. They are used for all sorts of things, like finding out if criminals are justly convicted as if they're really evil then the egg hatches into a monster and eats them." She saw Harry's incredulous look "but of course most of them grow up really nice!"

"Isn't this the trial Koenma gave the new Spirit Detective? I thought it was supposed to restore him to life is it still... alive?" He had read the report about the fire at Yuusuke's old house and how the unhatched egg had been sacrificed to protect a girl who went into the blaze to save Yuusuke's body. There hadn't been any details about what happened to the egg though.

"Oh, don't worry, once an egg's been linked to your soul it cannot die until you go beyond one of the Gates and if it's physical body is damaged beyond repair it would still be alive in spirit." She hummed to herself as she scanned the labels along the nearest stack, built like a slender bookcase, each shelf containing a golden egg of varying sizes. "Yuusuke's should be about here somewhere, it won't be much bigger than the ones without an owner because the energy was dispersed in the fire to save Keiko- ah, here it is!" She pointed at a small golden egg, not much bigger than a chicken's, nestled in straw with the tag _'Urameshi, Yuusuke'_ printedin katakana below. The Reaper picked it up and held it lightly in her hands. "Here, touch it." Well, Harry was _certainly_ sending her a lot of odd looks today. "Trust me! Just touch it, I'm not being weird I promise."

"Well, ok..." Harry said, still a little dubious as he reached out and touched the surprisingly robust golden shell, he had expected it to be more fragile. His finger had only been in contact for a moment or two when he was suddenly hit by a wave of emotions- anger, worry, despondency, loneliness, excitement, happiness and a surge of fierce, unwavering protectiveness all mixed and intermeshed together. "Wow." Was all Harry was able to say for a very long moment as he tried to make sense of the whirl of feelings the egg emitted. "All of that, since the fire?" Harry asked, astounded that anyone could have such depth of emotion over such a short period of time.

"Just since the fire," Botan confirmed. "It's been less than three weeks since Yuusuke came back to life and only a bit longer since the fire at his house. During that time he's done a lot with very little training or experience, even managed to incapacitate three demonic thieves, saving a large part of Japan in the process."

Harry wasn't sure how he felt about a fourteen year old boy playing hero but then again by the time he was Yuusuke's age he had already faced possessed teachers, Snape, a basilisk, Gilderoy Lockhart's ego, hippogriffs, Snape, traitorous shape shifters, dementors, Snape, merpeople, dragons, and a dark lord with a snake fetish. Was there really any difference between them? One of them had had power since birth, the other unlocked abilities after his death. When he put it that way he seemed a little hypocritical. "It's pretty amazing," Harry agreed, realising that Botan wanted an answer to her unspoken question. Another thought struck him, though rather belatedly. "Are all people brought back to life with these eggs?"

Botan shook her head, "just the ones that might not deserve to be brought back, they also need a body to return to and we're still in the process of making yours." She smiled "that's what you were asking, right?"

"Yeah, I thought it was odd that I hadn't been given an egg for when... my body's ready."

"It won't be long, besides, since your body is going to be made here from a direct link to your spirit there won't be any rift between your corporeal and incorporeal form." She giggled "you won't need to kiss anyone either."

Harry choked a laugh, "thank Merlin, that would've been so awkward!" He said, not noticing the odd expression that passed across Botan's features before she squashed it down.

"I guess it would have been: super-lucky you not having to do it!" Botan blurted out, putting the egg in her hand down in it's nest, carefully but hurriedly, before steering Harry from the room. "Anyway, come on, I've got to clock in soon..." She babbled, leading him from the room which he left without protest, too busy pondering the myriad of feelings he had picked up from the egg. 'Yuusuke Urameshi, I wonder what you'd be like in person...'

Both Reaper and wizard left, quite unaware of the commotion they had caused with one of the eggs in that room simply by being there, or what events would alter due to that one short visit.

Trouble, thy name is Harry Potter.

* * *

Ok, this is out later than I wanted it to be and it is shorter than I wanted it as well but the extra 1000 words plus I have on the computer really didn't fit and will have to be meshed into the next chapter which I have not yet started sculpting. I give no excuses for my lateness only emphasis that I'm about to start university and I'm also working on an army of other stories (vote for them in the poll in my profile to decide which ones I work on). I've been stretched pretty thin so any constructive comments are very much appreciated as they really are the life blood of writers. Thank you.

* * *

**(1)** Ume is actually a canon character who appears in the movie (which is terrible, don't watch it for the love of all that is good in this world), she has purple hair and wears a yellow head band. She may or may not be the one that turns up in the manga notes, a friend of Botan's that likes predicting the deaths of cute boys since they look similar but since I'm not that well versed in the manga I don't know if she has a canon name. I called her 'Ume' which uses the kanji for plum blossom since her hair is her best feature and plums always make me think of purple. :3

I would also like to make it clear here and now before I receive a bunch of flames that **this is NOT going to be a HarryBotan story**. Harry is your typical dense teenager who can't see a crush staring him in the face. It shall also not be a Botan bashing story (or any kind of character bashing) since I love Botan to pieces and think people don't make enough of her character. If you don't agree with that, write your own story that shares your view point. Slashers can also rest at ease -waves YuusukeHarry and HarryYuusuke flags-

Also, the lines are still open for anyone wanting to guess what was implied at the end of the prologue which has a great deal of bearing on this chapter.

Feed the author?

Published 20th of September, 2008

Edited 8th December, 2008

Regular Pandemonium


	3. Regular Pandemonium

Chapter Two: 

Harry tossed and turned in his bunk, feeling uncomfortable in the bed he barely slept in and the sparse room he never visited. Even spirits were supposed to get sleep on occasion- REM helped maintain the minds of the dead, though it was not nearly as necessary as for the living, it did help keep memories intact.

Unfortunately, even with only a few hours a week assigned to sleep, Harry couldn't bring himself to drift off for even a moment right now. He stared blankly at the equally bare wall, painted the same shade of off cream or near egg shell that adorned every hotel room in the world before forcing himself to shut his eyes and eventuality, almost agonisingly, fall asleep.

* * *

--- Dream Scape ---

_Harry was flying again, his Firebolt between his legs and the wind buffeting his hair- why hadn't he done this in so long? It was absolutely amazing- this pure undiluted freedom._

_He turned to the person flying with him, their arms wrapped securely round his waist and the side of their face pressed against his back to better communicate against the exuberance of the wind._

"_Merlin, it's been ages since we've done this!" Harry called over his shoulder "why didn't we go sooner?"_

_Arms tightened slightly around his torso as the person leaned in to whisper directly in Harry's ear. "Well, you weren't ready before, were you? So we haven't met up in a while."_

_The Pilot scowled "It's stupid how little we see of each other these days."_

_The Passenger smiled and Harry felt it rather than seeing it "well, like I said, you weren't ready, before." _

"_What?" There was something deep and frightening in those words. Harry turned to look back at his passenger but strong arms held him gentle in place._

"_Keep your eyes ahead, Harry. You can't look away now." _

_Harry blew out a breath of air huffily, sending his fringe sprawling over his unmarked forehead. "But every thing's so confusing now, half the time I'm not even sure what I'm doing or where I'm going any more." 'Why can't I see you?' Went unspoken. _

"_You're going forward, Harry. That's all you need to focus on- moving forward. If you keep looking back you'll get distracted." _

"_Yes but _what_ am I doing?" _

_There was a definite smirk in their voice now " Don't ask me, I'm just the Passenger."_

* * *

Harry woke up feeling better than he had in ages. As he straightened his clothes (that he'd been unable to take off his spiritual form) and ran a hand futilely through his hair to flatten it he tried to remember what he had dreamed about.

"Nah, probably not important." He had more pressing things to worry about today anyway... though if he'd known what a fiasco that day was going to be, he probably wouldn't have bothered getting out of bed to begin with.

* * *

Harry ran through the corridors a break neck speed. He had already dumped the last of the files he was to deliver off in the Department of Reincarnation and was now making his way back to Koenma's office, dodging ogres as he went. 'I hope I get there in time' he thought, pivoting as he went round a corner to avoid a secretary ogre who squeaked and jumped out of the way, sloshing his coffee onto the carpet. "Sorry!" Harry called over his shoulder and left in the wake of the oni's colourful curses.

The wizard drew to a halt in front of Koenma's doors, panting slightly from his run (more out of habit than anything else) as he waited for the automatic doors to open. They did so with their customary swish and Harry poked his head in, noting the cosmic screen hanging in the air as well as Koenma and his official secretary's avid fascination in it.

"I didn't miss any did I?" He asked, disappointed as he came round the other side of the screen, hopping onto a bit of the desk that wouldn't impede Koenma's view if he sat there.

"No, not really." The junior god said, munching on a rice cake topped with some unidentifiable sugary substance. "Yuusuke ran into Kuwabara -a friend and rival from school- and they both qualified for the first round of Genkai's tests."

"What was the qualification requirement?" Harry asked, taking in the crowd of hopefuls, Yuusuke among them, who stared in disbelief at a room full of...arcade games?

"Drawing of lots."

Harry blinked "Okay... Was there a catch or is Genkai just...?" Harry didn't want to bad-mouth one of Koenma's associates as he supposed that it _could_ be a measure of being a psychic or seer to pick the right lot but then how did Yuusuke qualify? It seemed like a very imprecise test.

"It was energy sensitive paper. It turned red if someone with enough reiki touched it. A couple of idiots already got blown into a wall when they didn't grasp that concept."

'Damn, now I really wish I'd been faster getting here.' "And the muggle games, what are they for?" 'Not that they don't look fun but you have to wonder what she does with all of them the rest of the time.'

"They 're to see how they use their energy and would you stop using that terminology- it's not exactly politically correct in the rest of the world." Koenma huffed.

Harry rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "sorry, I keep forgetting." He settled down to watch the contestants test their mettle on a punching game, a rock, paper, scissors game and even karaoke. He was relieved to see that Yuusuke passed into the next round with little hassle- setting the highest score so far on the boxing machine and an above average one on the karaoke (which he tried to do as quietly as possible out of embarrassment, though his voice wasn't anything to be a ashamed of). Yuusuke did fail abysmally at the 'janken', only managing to predict a couple of them correctly but that didn't matter since he qualified by passing the first two.

The orange haired teen identified as Kuwabara was with Yuusuke every step of the way, pushing him to greater heights with his rivalry and childish banter, which Yuusuke wasted no time in returning. Kuwabara turned out to be above average in the boxing and karaoke (something about the adaptability of your energy from what Harry could tell) but didn't miss a single point at the janken which made him a better all rounder than Yuusuke and a superb psychic, if not as powerful as his friend.

"He's going to be pretty amazing later on, isn't he, Koenma-sama?" Piped up Jorge, the hard working blue ogre that probably did more to hold Reikai together than Koenma did most days. His employer made an affirmative sound, gulping down some tea to go with the rice cake.

"People with those kind of senses only get stronger as they grow, the fact that Kuwabara already possesses precognitive and psychic awareness in adolescence means that he will be a force to be reckoned with when he gets older." Koenma took another sip of tea, "then again, if Yuusuke's intelligence is an indicator for his friends I'd say that theory is shot to hell. Idiots can't implicate strategy or keep themselves alive."

Harry smiled nostalgically, how was that any different from how a certain fourteen year old wizard had behaved? Harry had been riding by the seat of his trousers ever since he got thrust into the wizarding world, there hadn't been any plan other than staying alive, keeping his friends safe and making Voldemort get his dues. He had felt the same sense of single mindedness and survival instinct from Yuusuke's incubating egg and knew that Kuwabara couldn't be much different from what he had seen and what Botan had told him. There was a definite kinship about them all.

"I'm sure they'll be fine, Botan-chan's with them." He said, and the conversation was over in lue of watching the event's unfurl instead.

* * *

_Three days earlier:_

Harry had never been in the Reaper dormitories before -though Botan had given him her room number not long after Harry took permanent residence in the palace- they had always met in the library or somewhere similar and as such it took Harry a while for to find where on earth it was.

He knocked on the door politely, glad the Reaper's rooms all had name plates though he had passed a huge array of them before reaching Botan's: Ayame, Kikyou, Ume, Azami, Yuriko... Harry wondered if having a flower name was one of the conditions of becoming a ferry girl or whether they changed their names after death. He was pulled out of his pondering when a voice slightly muffled by the door called "Come in!"

The spirit poked his head around the door to see his undead friend wearing a blue skirt and matching long sleeved top, she stood facing a small desk in the corner, her back turned to him and was pouring over a stack of documents that he couldn't fully see. "Thank you for loaning me the file, Ayame-san, I hope I didn't cause too much trouble for you. I'll give it back as soon as I'm finished reading it if you don't mind waiting until I get back."

Harry stayed in the doorway. "Botan-chan?"

Botan whirled "H-Harry-kun!" She looked shocked but managed to regain her composure quickly. "I wasn't expecting you, Ayame-san's the only one who ever bothers to knock so I assumed...oh my." She blanched. 'I have Harry-kun in my room- at the worst possible time!'

"Is everything... okay?" The wizard took a step forward into her room, something evidently had her spooked. "Has something happened?"

Botan's frantic and very negative hand waving stopped him in his tracks. "Oh no, nothing of the sort!" She said a little too quickly but warmly enough to ease some of Harry's fears. "I'm just a little on edge is all, I'm going down to Ningenkai in a minute- Yuusuke has an assignment and I don't trust him not to hang up the communicator on me so I'm going in person."

'That hardly sounds like the right sort of conduct for a Spirit Detective', Harry thought. 'Than again, he was blackmailed into the whole thing, I'm not surprised he doesn't want to follow Koenma's orders.' "That makes sense I suppose, when I heard that you were going on a mission I wanted to see you off."

The reaper blushed self-consciously. "You didn't have to do that, and besides I won't be accompanying Yuusuke for a few days, today is just to persuade him and give him some time to prepare."

Harry blushed a little himself, the silvery glow making his face even more translucent. "Sorry, Jorge has a way of hyping events."

"Ah." Botan didn't need any more explanation "he really does like the dramatics." She giggled at Harry's expression that clearly screamed 'that's an understatement!'

"Are you leaving now then, or do you want me to wait outside or something?" 'Surely she's not going out in the sailor suit...is she?' Harry wondered if Ume had put her up to it, he couldn't imagine Botan wanting to wear something so scanty when riding her oar.

Botan blinked, "why would I make you wait outside, Harry-kun? I'm already dressed." A wonderfully forbidden thought came to her mind before she ruthlessly smacked it down 'bad brain, bad!' "So, um, do you want to walk with me to the portal point?"

Harry was glad that Botan was alright- she really had been acting weird today and smiled in such a way that his eyes sparkled warmly. "Sure." He held the door open for her and Botan's heart melted into a content pile of goo on the floor.

She did her absolute best to forget about the contents of the file on her desk marked 'Harry James Potter.'

* * *

_Present day: _

Koenma looked up irritably from his 'Awesome All Seeing Screen' -as he had dubbed it- at the sound of shouting and pounding feet along an adjacent corridor, noise that exceeded the levels he generally allowed his over worked staff to indulge in.

Yuusuke had already won his first fight and Botan was trying to wrap his cuts for him but he wouldn't let her close- no doubt her healing a member of the tournament would be against the rules and would get Yuusuke disqualified but he waved off the offer of even mundane first aid until the Reaper looked read to sock the teen one out of sheer frustration. The demi-God weighed his options: he could go and see what was causing such a fuss but then he might miss Yuusuke getting taken down a peg by a girl...

"Jorge, go see what's going on outside." That was, after all, what subordinates were for.

Jorge, who had already been sent to refill Koenma's snack tray four times looked ready to cry at the prospect of missing even more of the action and Harry took pity on him- it would only take a minute or two to see what was going on and then everyone would be happy.

"I'll go," he offered, sliding off the desk before anyone could protest (or Koenma realised his snacks were depleting again) and went out the door.

The main corridor was devoid of ogres but the sound of the sheer panic coming from down the hallway was easy enough to follow. Harry made his way over at a jog, hoping that no one was hurt as he hadn't had a chance to read up on healing magic much since he got here. "What's going on?" He asked the first ogre he came to, a tall green male that was twisting his stripped tie frantically between his clawed hands.

The ogre jumped, turning round at the sound of Harry's voice only to relax visibly when he saw who it was. "Potter-san! Oh thank Hades it's you- I was sure I was going to die!"

Harry frowned, that generally wasn't a good sign. "What's wrong? Why are you all so..." 'Terrified' was probably the word he was looking for as he surveyed every brightly coloured face of the group- not one out of place waiting in line for the photocopiers or dashing between offices with reports if not for the look of stark terror on their faces. "...Um, stressed?" He tried diplomatically.

The green ogre strangled his tie even more "it's the prisoner, Youko Kurama- he's escaped!" He said the name as though invoking it was going to bring it's barer running and he looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't there.

"Youko Kurama?" Harry mused "that's the red haired guy right? Green eyes, rather feminine?" He didn't mention how utterly deceptive that appearance had been when he saw him in Koenma's office about a week ago. It was probably best to play the danger of an escaped criminal down as panicking an already spooked mob of pencil pushers wouldn't do anyone any favours.

The ogre whimpered, nodding frantically. "That's his human avatar but I've heard stories about him when he was a full demon -my cousin works in the records department you know- and he was one of the most blood thirsty demons to ever live! A bandit with no scrupulous that stole from anyone and cut down anyone that got in his way..." As this was being said the other ogres were nodding frantically, throwing in their own input if they thought their friend had missed something out. When words like 'baby snatcher' and 'puppy kicker' were bandied about Harry put his foot down.

"Well thank you were much for the...information... but if this prisoner really has escaped shouldn't we tell Koenma and warn the SDF?"

Another of the ogres (this one with an orange complexion) wailed "no, we can't! If anyone finds out he's escaped the security department will get the sack." It was only at this point that Harry noticed that some of the ogres had pins marked 'Security' on their ties or ceremonial leopard prints. The orange ogre then promptly broke down into tears, something about 'wedding' and 'cancellation'.

Harry sighed, sometimes he really hated his hero complex. "Which way are the holding cells?"

* * *

_Fifteen minutes earlier: _

Kurama tapped his foot against the wall of his cell, partly for the sake of keeping a track of the time but mostly to alleviate his mind numbing boredom. He had been locked in this cell for more than a week and though his living body was kept nourished and sustained, both by the food brought to him and the latent energy saturating every particle of Reikai's atmosphere, he had no contact with anyone but his guards. Any effort on his part to make conversation with his captors had proved futile and the demon avatar really started to suspect that Koenma had locked up him here and forgotten about him.

The most worrying factor of all this was what to do about his mother. He had left her a message on the answering machine before rushing off to save Yuusuke in the fight against Hiei, explaining as calmly as possible that he was leaving on a school trip and wouldn't be back for a few days. The time had gone too quickly for Kurama's liking and already the week had passed him by, passed his no doubt frantic mother in Ningenkai by, and Koenma had left him to rot with that knowledge.

Kurama could faintly feel his one time partner's youki through the wall his prison bunk rested against and he had no doubt that Hiei could feel him too, maybe even more so since the petite demon had the Jagan at his disposal. Despite the circumstances of their partnership, never mind their parting, Kurama was oddly comforted that Hiei was near him and had returned to his old self. Between trying to control the sword and battling the sentient Jagan eye, Hiei had been stuck between two intelligent forces without mercy or scruples that wanted nothing more than to control him- they had almost succeeded in dominating him completely and if not for Yuusuke eventually defeating him, Hiei's mind may not have survived unscathed much longer.

Kurama put thoughts of Hiei aside, although he was a welcome distraction and an enigma the fox would have liked nothing more than to unravel on a normal day he had more pressing matters at hand. 'Okaasan...' Other demons would have no doubt called him pitiful (he knew already what Hiei though of his affection for a human) but he could not bring himself to care about the thoughts of others any more, at least not concerning this. Shiori was a simple human woman, weak, emotional and generally accepting of any hardship that came her way. That was all Kurama had seen when he first came into her company, a weak creature that he would outlive by centuries and really what was the point in paying attention to an insect that would soon fade from this world? But he had eventually come to see more, after the earth quake, when he had fallen from the stool in the kitchen, the flower pots shattering on the awaiting floor, there was no danger to him really, was there? But he was so weak himself then, a small fragile human boy that was falling over backwards to meet the razor shards.

And Shiori caught him, before his head hit the hard tile floor, her hands bleeding from the cuts she sustained from the jagged slivers of pottery. He could see her pain as she cradled his head gently, pulling him into her arms. "Are you hurt, Shuuichi-kun?" she asked, so frantic with worry for her poor conniving changeling child.

He could only stare with such shocked wonderment, as she continued to worry for him and her hands bled red, red blood onto the terracotta tiles. "Are you sure you're not hurt? I was so scared for you, Shuuichi-kun." What a monster he was and he hadn't seen it until that day. How ironic, for hundreds of years his name had been cursed by everyone who knew him but a simple human woman offered him kind words and gentle comforting touches. For the first time he saw himself as the monster everyone had despised for centuries where before he had only disdain for everyone else in existence and the belief he was superior beyond all other creatures.

Ironic indeed. Kurama scowled uncharacteristically in the gloom, the only light coming from a single glow lamp above his head, a green dawn not dissimilar to the glow pods he himself used on occasion. The light was paltry at best but his night vision was good enough to make out every line and crack of the ceiling. He had already counted every stone and shuddering line suspended there and they brought him only slightly more answers than his guards that brought him the tasteless rations three times a day- as though he would need that much sustenance when he was confined to a tiny room! The fox within him howled at the humiliation of it, the suffocating entrapment that sought to devour him in this shallow and unfeeling darkness, away from the warmth he had come to know and cherish.

It was in that moment he decided to escape.

* * *

It was ridiculously easy to sneak past his captors, really, a child knew the age old trick of padding a bed with pillows and for the guards, they were easily bypassed with a little bit of hallucinogenic pollen from one of his plants stowed away in his hair. The door was painfully simple as well and a hair pin -Kurama winced at the stereotype- also secreted away in his hair opened the lock to his cell, though it broke in the process. It was a good thing he hadn't been planning to free Hiei (though he would have if escape was really his goal) as he was out of pins and had not packed any plants sturdy enough for the task of picking locks.

No, Shuuichi just wanted to find a phone. It seemed a simple enough idea, though perhaps the apparently simplistic idea -a plan riddled with holes he would see upon later reflection- was perhaps brought on upon by the claustrophobia and lack of conversation as much as it was the desire to reassure his mother of his safety.

'Besides,' he assured himself 'I claim nothing more than I am already entitled to- is it not common courtesy, not to mention the law to allow prisoners a phone call?' Kurama brushed over the fact he was currently in Reikai, if anything he should be offered duel citizenship and perhaps even diplomatic immunity... 'Perhaps not the last one' the avatar amended.'It's been a long time since I was considered royalty', and it had only been over one small layer of Makai of thousands but it had been _his_ if only for a short while, beautiful and green and thrumming with the life of the plants he grew there and the life they sustained and in turn feasted upon in some cases- a paradise for his kind. 'If only it still existed' he thought morosely as he ran silently down the corridor. Back at his cell the fresh guards had already found their hallucinating counterparts.

But they did not sound the alarm.

* * *

_The Present:_

The only thing that Harry had going for him right now was that he couldn't die twice.

At least that was the theory- it wasn't completely out of the realms of possibility that this Kurama ate souls like his partner Gouki had... and Harry had unfortunately never looked up the term 'spirit fox' which is what his translator classified Kurama as more times than not. 'Spirits-for-Breakfast-Fox?' Harry mused, 'I hope not.'

"Bugger it all." Harry muttered darkly as he traced his route from the holding cells back the way he came. He wasn't certain (as a good deal of people had rushed through this area) but he _thought_ he had picked up a flicker of reiki -for lack of a better term- different from that of the ogres heading in the direction of the offices. Pity he hadn't picked it up from the get go and saved himself the trip, sometimes Harry really did bemoan not having the tracking ability of a wizarding owl- it would certainly come in handy here.

The wizard rounded the corner (which may or may not have been the one he had gone down a few minutes before, he wasn't certain), following a fresher energy signal and tried not to think of Hedwig.

'She would probably bite my ear off if she knew I was doing something this stupid.' Harry shook his head and tried to focus on the signature- it was really faint even though Harry was certain it was fresh and was less of a power trace and more of an... emotion trail... if that made any sense. Harry had long stopped trying to figure out the impossibility of what his magic did and just lived with it.

This fact may have been in his favour when the search of the next corridor revealed actual results, more precisely the form of a red haired teen crouched down beside an office door, manipulating the lock with what looked like a twisted paper clip.

"Excuse me?" The effect was instantaneous and Kurama froze, meeting Harry's gaze momentarily before flickering between possible escape routes. He tensed, ready to either pounce or flee.

Harry interrupted before Kurama could implement one of those options. "Hey, wait up a moment. I just want to talk-" Kurama exhaled the breath he'd been holding almost delicately but with enough emphasis to interpret it as a snort. "Okay... that was possibly the most clichéd and pathetic thing I could say in this situation but it's still the truth- I can't hurt you." Harry held his slightly transparent hands up in surrender to show he wasn't armed. The gloom of the corridor probably made him look more opaque than he actually was.

"Who are you... and what do you want if not to capture me again?"

"Um, I'm Harry and I'm more interested in why you broke out than putting you back if that makes any sense."

"Marginal sense." Harry noticed the minuscule movements of the make shift lock pick out of the corner of his eye but ignored it for now.

"So... why are you breaking into the offices? And why did you leave your cell for that matter; you know Koenma's not going to lock you up or give you the death penalty, right?"

"I am well aware."

Harry resisted the urge to huff, it really was like talking to a brick wall. "Then why are you being so irrational, the way you handled yourself in front of Koenma, well, I thought you had more sense than that really."

The kitsune frowned "handled myself...? Ah" comprehension. "You were in Koenma's office the day Hiei and I were sentenced."

Harry nodded, "yeah, I'm kind of an unofficial secretary at the moment."

"My apologies, I didn't recognise you- and I was not aware you were a ghost until you managed to catch me off guard like that." There was a note of hurt pride there, Harry supposed making no natural sound -like breathing, heartbeat or footsteps- could be useful in these situations.

"I'm a temporary spirit, ghosts are a bit different...yeah, it's complicated." Harry shrugged it off "so why are you trying to break into that office? There's nothing of value in it, unless you're looking for more paper clips to add to your collection..." The wizard trailed off with a cheeky grin as Kurama sent him a less than amused_ look_.

"If you must know," Kurama said as he clicked the door open, abandoning the pretence that he wasn't still working on the lock, "I'm looking for a phone." He flicked the light switch, scanning the paper cluttered desks and lonely filing cabinets but sighed disappointedly when he saw no phone.

"To call Ningenkai?" Harry didn't even wait for the clarification, the answer seemed pretty obvious. "The next floor up would be your best bet but it's flooded with staff this kind of day- the soul stock exchange. Something about keeping the neutral souls even on the accounts of where they go to the afterlife, I never understood it myself." Harry ruthlessly squashed the green eyed monster that reared his ugly head inside him. "If not that then the Archives in the Department of Records have their own phone and I've never seen anyone but Ayame-san in the office there..." He trailed off at Kurama's carefully masked hopeful look, he wouldn't even know it was there if the 'trail' of energy Harry had been following hadn't spiked with that tell-tale emotion instead of the trepidation he had been following before. "How about a deal?" He asked suddenly, taking both Kurama and himself off guard.

The red-head's eyes narrowed. "What sort of 'deal' do you propose?"

Harry pondered for a moment, "um, the kind of deal where I get you into the Record Department without being seen to use the phone if you promise to go back to your cell afterwards?"

Kurama was evidently surprised "why would you do that?"

"Well, the ogres know that you've escaped but as far as I'm aware they've been too scared to tell the upper management you're loose. If I give you a phone call I'm at _least_ ninety per cent sure you'll go back without killing anyone and the security department won't get sacked if there's no evidence of their screw up, thus saving me a lot of paper work Koenma would make me do no doubt."

"That is hardly a good reason to let me go free." The escaped criminal mused, still suspicious.

Harry shrugged "take it how you will but just because my reason for letting you go isn't good, that doesn't mean that your reason for using the phone isn't, am I right?" 'Bulls eye!' Harry crowed mentally as green eyes widened in surprise. "Come on," he said, setting off in the direction of the Archives "I'll distract Ayame-san long enough for you to call your mum and then you can go back without any fuss and Koenma doesn't even need to know..."

* * *

AN: **Sorry if anyone was spammed with updates**- I had to delete and repost the first chapter as there was a detail that spectacularly clashed with the plot in this one- a mention of Botan going to meet Yuusuke for the temple mission before it was supposed to happen.

Someone also mentioned that the time line is confusing- the ambiguity is only in part due to my laziness as the YYH time line is impossible to keep straight with what I want from the HP one. Ick. Hope I don't have to edit any more chapters but I fell rather rushed with this one. If you notice any discrepancies with the plot please flag them- the story keeps evolving and sometimes it's hard to keep straight... like a complex lie it's hard to keep all the details in line.

This update is**early** and I will continue to post promptly if I get feedback. Helpful criticism is always appreciated.

**Once more this is NOT a HarryBotan story!**


	4. Opening Pandora's Box

_Please read the AN at the end of the chapter, it's quite important!_

_

* * *

_

Chapter Three: Opening Pandora's Box

* * *

"Curiosity is not a sin.... But we should exercise caution with our curiosity... yes, indeed." -Albus Dumbledore.

* * *

Ayame looked up from her filing as Harry entered, her face as passive as ever and only the slight warmth in her eyes breaking the façade of indifference. "Hello Potter-san, to what do I owe this pleasure?" She asked in her customarily dry manner.

Harry pulled a face that came naturally after working for Koenma "I would _like_ to say I came to see you... but I need to pick up the files on the Slicer Brothers, their reincarnation probationary period has run out and we need to look over their records before we decide what to do with them." The deceased wizard tried to look as put out as possible but knew Ayame was immune to his 'puppy eyes' from past experience.

There was a short pause as the reaper considered, no doubt remembering off the top of her head the exact case in question; thankfully Harry had picked a file that was actually relevant to his next working week. "Very well, I'll be just a moment, Potter-san." Ayame bowed shallowly before going in the direction of the catalogue cards for the exact reference point. Harry tried to keep his face as relaxed and impassive as possible even as the reaper turned to leave. A few moments later he felt the now familiar emotion trail of Kurama dart off in the direction of the small office.'Hmm, I wonder why this doesn't work with the reapers as well... maybe demon's energy is more distinct or something? "youki" I think it's called...'

Unfortunately, Harry was too caught up in his pondering to notice Ayame come back until he heard the clack of zori sandals. 'Crap, too soon!' Harry scrambled for a reason to detain her attention longer as he jogged to meet her half way. "Thanks Ayame-san" he bowed before taking the file, something that had become a habit in Reikai. "Um, I don't suppose you have a minute do you?"

Ayame blinked impassively. "I do have 'a minute' though I will have to return to work soon. What is troubling you?"

Harry rubbed the back of his head, a nervous gesture that was just another habit to add to the list. "Um, you see it's-" his brain scrambled for a topic "Botan-chan."

The reaper raised one brow "what about Botan?"

"Well, she's been acting a little....weird." Now that Harry thought about it, Botan had been a little off recently. She was constantly forgetting things he told her just a moment earlier and staring at his face like there was something stuck on it. Harry went thorough the list for Ayame's benefit, finishing on : "-and she keeps getting hot flushes and dizzy spells, I'm really worried she might be sick, I mean, _can_ reapers get sick?"

Ayame coughed. "It is possible if a reaper has a living body, though the vessels we use are hardier than normal human forms."

"That's what I thought but Botan-chan seems to be getting worse every time I see her-" he broke off as Ayame started a coughing fit into her armful of files. "Um, are you alright, Ayame-san?"

"Ahemm, yes, I perfectly fine it's just... a bug that's been going around the dorms lately, it's not harmful I'm sure."

Harry looked relieved "do you think that's what Botan-chan has? This bug I mean?"

"Yes, though I believe she has a different... strain of it." If Ayame had been another reaper she would have cracked by now and burst out laughing or at least bitten her cheek to keep quiet. As it stood she was already pushing her restraint to its limits.

"I'm so glad that's all it is. I was worried Yuusuke was giving her a hard time; I would have had to go down to Ningenkai and give him boils or something and I've only just started respecting the kid." Harry grinned as he thought of the spunky street fighter 'you may be tough but_ everyone_ cracks when they haveboils!'

Ayame smiled slightly before bowing once more. "I must return to work, Potter-san but please come by again sometime. You move between the departments more freely that most and it is good to hear the news before it is mangled by the grapevine."

"Ah" Harry nodded in deep understanding "the photocopier waiting lines and the secretarial personnel in the East wing."

Ayame smirked "you learn fast."

"Thanks." Harry grinned. Then, realising the conversation had drawn to a close, put the files he'd procured under one arm and made for the exit, hoping that that had been enough time for Kurama to make his call 'about seven minutes, maybe a little more? It wasn't long but I did well keeping Ayame-san occupied for even that, she's not exactly much of a conversationalist.'

Once the door had clicked shut and a sufficient amount of time had passed Ayame allowed herself an unladylike snort. "Idiot." She made a point to mention the encounter to Ume if she ever needed to seek revenge against Potter-san in the future, the purple haired reaper would have it all around Reikai in less than an hour. "Completely clueless..." Ayame went back to her filing too occupied with death's little dramas to think the naive spirit could have had any ulterior motives. 'Naive indeed... about some things at least.'

* * *

Kurama was already waiting for him when Harry rounded the corner and the spirit tried not to think too hard about how the avatar had escaped the office when the only door was shut. 'Well, he is a legendary bandit after all. All things considering that's probably not very impressive.'

"Hello, Kurama-san. Was that any help?" He queried politely as he drew up alongside the avatar.

The red haired paused a moment before following Harry, keeping a sedate pace beside him. "That was... extremely helpful, thank you."

"You don't seem very convinced." Harry muttered, a little peeved at the avatar's lack of gratitude.

"I don't mean to insult you." Kurama held his hands up in a placating manner. "I just cannot help but think this is a test, that you were assigned to be an observer by Koenma-sama or his father to see how I would respond to this opportunity." Green eyes, piercing for their living vibrancy, locked with those of a similar hue that had lost their lustre in death. "I still think your appearance was too convenient and the knowledge you had of me -who I would call when I found a phone- is suspicious."

Harry sighed "Kurama, I'm not going to lie to you, I'm not trying to deceive you." He stopped in the middle of the corridor and lifted his chin to look directly at the kitsune avatar unflinchingly. "I sought you out of my own volition, no one sent me except the frantic staff that were scared shitless of losing their jobs. I only knew about your mother because I'm friends with Yuusuke's assistant and the only reason I found you in the building was sheer blind luck."

Kurama contemplated a moment, scrutinising every facet of Harry's expression before nodding. "Not completely true on the last count but thank you for being as honest as you can with me." Kurama smiled cheekily "I suppose I should tiptoe back into my cell now?"

The deceased wizard nodded resolutely "don't make me drag you back in there mister!"

The avatar blinked before throwing his head back and laughing until his sides ached.

Harry huffed. "It's not _that_ funny!"

The green eyed spirit was an enigma.

Kurama had known Harry was such almost as soon as he saw him for the second time during his less than productive escape. Even during the first meeting it had struck him that the secretary had been especially attentive to their sentencing and the way those eyes took in everything about him and Hiei... he had passed it off as an office worker's nosiness but now the gaze could not be interpreted as anything but analysing. Kurama was used to being the one who analysed, who calculated. He did not appreciate being short on information about somebody who held his own life and freedom in their hands. 'I could pass him off as a good Samaritan, someone who just wanted to help but I cannot believe that was the only motive here. People do not do anything without wanting something in return, so either he is deliberately leaving me in his debt or he really does just want to help me... unless it is as I first feared, a set up by Enma or his son to test how dangerous I am.'

The red head sighed, somehow believing it unlikely that he was being tested, that would indicate his actions were being controlled and although his actions over the past day had been irrational he knew all too well the effects of mind control. No, Kurama was not being physically or mentally manipulated.

'So that leaves the possibility that Harry is a genuinely good person... or he himself is being controlled.' Kurama scoffed at the idea, the only person in this place that would want to help Kurama was Hiei and only if he had gotten over the betrayal ordeal. It was only a possibility if Hiei had access to the Jagan but as it stood the petite swordsman was too heavily warded to extend any influence beyond his cell.

'Blind faith it is, I really have been uncharacteristically believing recently. At least Yuusuke was easier to read, even if he threw me off a couple of times.' Kurama sighed inwardly as he walked without protest into his tiny cell, sending a mental greeting that was little more than a wave of emotion in Hiei's direction. He chuckled to himself as the returning wave rang with grouchiness and curiosity, perhaps Hiei had missed him after all?

Harry murmured a soft 'bye' and the cell door closed with a clang.

* * *

"So, you took over an hour to check out a disturbance down the hall because you, I quote, 'got lost'?" The Godling asked in a complete deadpan, for a split second seriously wondering if he had perhaps made a mistake appointing the spirit in front of him as a potential Tantei. 'Typical' he thought, 'kid saves the world but still can't find his way out of a paper bag, do all heroes have a devastating personal quirk?'

Harry did his best to look both indignant and contrite, a difficult combination that made his expression a little strained. "There was a lot going on, Koenma-sama, the disturbance itself was nothing important but then I got roped into delivering messages between departments, I stopped by Ayame-san's office to grab some files but got lost on my way back from the kitchens." He held up his tray of green tea and octopus balls he couldn't remember the name of but knew Koenma's addiction coveted.

The toddler brightened, his infantile nose quivering to pick up the scent of takoyaki, having some dignity as the Overseer of Souls he stopped himself lunging for the tray and instead nodded regally. "Put it down there Potter-san, thank you for your consideration" he shot a pointed look at Jorge, his secretary had refused to go for more snacks since the complete darkness round had begun.

Harry deposited the tray on the desk and dislodged the file held under one arm, slotting it into the pile designated for 'look at next week' on his own tiny desk in the corner: Koenma liked to keep his own desk free when possible and it was now Harry's job to sort the most urgent documents and bring them to the deity's attention. 'Again, how did I get roped into this?' The wizard sighed 'at least no one's suspicious, I'm glad I went by the kitchens or I'd be in deep shi-'

"Koenma-sama!" An orange ogre that Harry remembered from the security department had practically hurled himself into the office and was already on his hands and knees in apology.

Harry's mind went haywire, his thoughts almost too fast to be intelligible 'snacks: check, file: check, Kurama in cell: check, _tell the security department Kurama's in his cell_: fuck.'

"I'm sorry we didn't report it before" the ogre continued, cringing "but I have to tell you that-"

"Nargles!" Harry barked, making everyone in the room turn and stare at him, including the hysterical security ogre. The wizard felt his face grow steadily silver in embarrassment as he stumbled on "um, there was a nargle loose in the East Wing but someone caught it so there's nothing to worry about?" He rambled in one breath, hoping that his blatant lie didn't sound too much like a question, trying to be surreptitious as he told the ogre with his eyes _--IT'S FINE, GO--_.

The Legimancy blast made the ogre reel, rocking him back onto his ankles as he fought to maintain seiza; Harry had never been subtle or particularly gentle with the mind arts but he put that down to having only malevolent forces trying to get into his head from day one and being taught by a man who hated his guts.

A moment of perplexed silence passed between the four of them and then the ogre pulled himself together, chuckling weakly as he rubbed the back of his bald head sheepishly. "Heh, that's um, really good news, I'll just, um, go then..." He got to his feet and slipped out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Do I even want to know?" Koenma piped sardonically around his pacifier.

"Henry was never that high strung" Jorge muttered "I wonder if he needs a holiday..." He broke off, eyeing his boss speculatively before sighing dejectedly.

Harry tried to grin without looking like he had just had a mental panic attack. "Well, I hear he's getting married soon, maybe it's the stress of the wedding preparations?" He ploughed on, not waiting to see if they had bought the story. "so, can anyone get me up to speed on the tournament?"

* * *

As Harry made his way to the library, clutching a newly recorded video tape in one hand he contemplated the days events with a touch of incredulity. Not only had he assisted a criminal in escaping his cell but he had lied to and misled his co-workers and boss (who also happened to hold his life in his pudgy hands), jepordising his job (which, to be fair, he didn't care that much for), his future career (which he actually gave a damn about) and his chance at rebirth (which was infinitely better than working for Koenma at close quarters forever).

'So why did I do it?' Harry pondered as he entered the library and went straight to the audio visual room at the back, usually used for nothing more than various movie nights and short films during lunch breaks by the ogres and reapers both. After a few minutes of trial and error he managed to turn on the telly and put the video in the player the right way round. A few few more minutes of searching unearthed the remote from underneath a mountain of crisp packets and empty plastic bottles on the table and then he tentatively sat down on the crumby sofa. He paused over the remote for a few minutes, trying to remember from his brief muggle experience which was the 'play' button. Finally finding it, and thus ending his wizarding confusion, Harry began watching the events recorded from that day at Genkai's shrine, a good deal of which he had missed due to his escapades or being late that morning.

'Maybe I was just bored' he mused, 'that's certainly a big part of why Yuusuke does what he does, even the life debt, death debt, or whatever wouldn't stop him if he really wanted to quit being a Spirit Detective.' The spirit smiled almost fondly as the disembodied camera followed Yuusuke's movements up Genkai's stone steps and into the courtyard where the 'super cool eye blasting technique' took place, or so Jorge had told him. 'Maybe it's just my hero complex again, maybe that's why Yuusuke fights too, he just wants to be able to change what's going on around him and make it better...'

'I still need to find out how I found Kurama and why it seems to be getting stronger, I can't remember if it's happened before but that's not surprising... so much was going on- oooh, eye blasting technique! Where's the rewind button...?!'

Harry was on the edge of his seat throughout and not just because the sofa had questionable substances on it, the most mundane of which Harry was able to identify as peanut butter. "Merlin's bollocks" he swore, eye wide as Yuusuke exhaustedly wrapped up his fight with Rando, falling on the miniaturised technique thief with his elbow and knocking him unconscious. "Is this what I put Ron and 'Mione through all those years?" for once uttering the names of his dead friends didn't depress him, he was too focused on the events that played out before him and the fluttering in the bottom of his stomach that reminded him of pre-exam stress coupled with the sensation of touching down after a long Quidditch match: Elation and nervousness.

"Yuusuke Urameshi" the spirit tested the name on his tongue, rolling it over in his mind as he reviewed everything he already knew about the teen. "You are without a doubt an extraordinary human being... and I wonder if you even want someone to take over from you any more."

* * *

The spirit eventually cleared out of the AV room, after watching a few choice moments over again, and although Yuusuke's victory was heartening, uplifting even, it also made Harry question if there was any space for him in the living world any more.

Yuusuke waved Botan's glowing hands away as she tried to heal him. "I'm fine, Kuwabara got more shit kicked out of him anyway." He hadn't managed to move from his position, limbs splayed out like a snow angel on the charred grass and concentrated on catching his breath rather than retorting to Kuwabara's garbled 'Shut it Urameshi!'. Botan huffed predictably but went to help the ginger haired teen rather than argue, ha, he was finally wearing her down, she was way too protective of him anyway.

The breeze felt nice on Yuusuke's sweaty face and he shut his eyes, ready for a nap since there was no way Rando was going anywhere, he wondered briefly is the miniaturised convict could breathe under his elbow but found he didn't really give a damn. 'That's what you get for being a bastard and not knowing when to stop a match...' His light doze was interrupted as he felt warmth spreading across his chest and easing the pain in his cracked ribs.

"Botan, I told you to-!" His eyes snapped open but instead of a fearsomely chirpy shinigami there was a haggard midget in warrior garb holding her hands palm down over his worst injuries. "Oh, sorry Baa-san, I forgot about you."

"And I see your spiritual awareness is still worth as much as a chocolate tea pot, dimwit." The martial artist snarled back, not pausing in her healing which produced realigning yellow rays and pain-killing blue ripples. Yuusuke had thought that reiki took the form of the person it came from and it seemed unreal that this snarky old dwarf was able to produce such a soothing healing ability, especially since she had acted like he wasn't worth the steam off her midgety shit. Maybe she wasn't going to be such a bitch at this boot camp after all.

"I expect you to be up at the crack of dawn for training tomorrow and I don't want to hear any complaints about your boo-boos or I'll give you those fractures back. Welcome to Hell, brat."

Yuusuke took it back: she was evil, absolutely evil.

Botan hid her smile as the teen and his soon to be teacher bickered back and forth, filing away a few of the more clever retorts away for a particularly bad day. She knew that Yuusuke had ever had much guidance in his life and believed the discipline would do him good, maybe Genkai with her no crap attitude and pit-bull tenacity would be able to make something of Yuusuke's hard headed stubbornness and lack of drive. Maybe they would be a good team, each playing off one another's strengths, maybe-

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME YOU OLD BITCH!?"

Maybe they would both kill each other.

* * *

Botan got back to Reikai late and exhausted. Although the mortal concepts of time rarely held sway over the realm of the dead there was still an eerily stillness throughout the Palace and the lavender sky had darkened slightly to a dusky violet, signalling the world's down time for those that had to sleep. Reikai operated on a stretched out time zone which allowed life in the living world to be paused for awhile if necessary, this meant 'night' always seemed a long awaited occasion, brief as it was. As Reikai's time was out of conjunction with Ningenkai's there was a pocket in time and space where the people and deities of Reikai could rest unperturbed or (more often than not) delay some unspeakable disaster about to bring immanent destruction to the living world.

She discarded her shoes by the door, lining the trainers up neatly beside the line of polished zori and lone school flats, before flopping down on her bed still clad in the modern jeans and jacket. The western bed looked as out of place as she had amongst the other shinigami clocking out of their shifts and she had gotten a few odd looks from her co-workers along with a good dose of curiosity. It wasn't often that the shinigami got to go down to Earth in a solid body, never mind traipse around with one in the Palace; the ferry girls were possibly the most traditional unit in Reikai, their kimono, oars and even the theme of their names hadn't changed in hundreds of years and as the other departments altered their uniforms (the SDF for instance were very up to date with a design from the _eighties_), the reapers rarely wore more casual clothing than cotton yukata. 'Well we all have our quirks' Botan thought 'and Ume's getting into it too, besides trousers really are better for flying anyway... better not tell Azami-san, she's a real stickler for rules and doesn't keep it to herself like Ayame-san!' The prim and proper reaper was one of the oldest still on the job and had given Botan no small grief during her intern years.

Curling onto her side, Botan buried her cheek into her pillow as she sorted though the huge rush of information she had absorbed recently. All in all the day had been productive, a fugitive had been collected and imprisoned (after a good deal of healing to ensure he didn't die during the trip), Yuusuke was getting the training and discipline he so desperately needed, even Kuwabara had escaped relatively unscaved and even unlocked a new power to help him ward off the permanent spirits that plagued him.

'But the real reason I'm so crabby is because Harry-kun wasn't there to welcome me back.' The blue haired reaper thought rebelliously before stubbornly stomping down on that evil inner voice. 'Don't be so silly, Harry-kun has a million and one better things to do than baby-sit you.... even if he's been there to greet me everyday after a big assignment so far.' When there was an earthquake or a flood, when the reapers were short handed for ferrying souls and she had to put in ridiculous amounts of overtime: every time Harry-kun had been there to welcome her back with a soft smile and some distracting conversation.

'I've become too dependant on him, I'm such an idiot...' Botan rolled off the bed and went to her desk; work was always a good distraction and she would be dammed for eternity doing the dreaded Stamp Duty before she let herself fall apart over something so silly.

The papers had built up over time and her desk was practically overflowing with non-critical reports of spirits still clinging to Earth in her sector, either those no one had been able to see yet (as they were marked as harmless to the living population), or 'permanent' spirits that had over stayed their visa. 'I wish I could get the over-clocked ghosts in Harry-kun's school but those wards are just plain nasty... not thinking about him!' She leafed through the lists and memos frantically, angry with herself and her wandering mind until she came across a familiar file, one she had done her best to forget about after she failed to pluck up the courage to read it through before.

"Why hasn't Ayame-san been pounding on my door for this? She must be positively livid I've not returned it yet... even if Koenma-sama did tell me to have a look at it." Botan bit her lip as her fingers traced the curling label marked _'Harry James Potter' _with his case number and filing code. 'I've had this for ages now, ever since Harry-kun accepted the position as substitute Spirit Detective.' Resolutely she took the file over to her bed, the place she preferred to read long reports, and sat cross-legged on the duvet.

'Maybe I should make a cup of tea, it _is_ very long... no! No putting it off any more!' She shed her jacket, finding the room suddenly uncomfortably warm, and turned to the first page, scanning the contents. The basic death records were there first, the short section she had already read before going to collect Harry-kun's soul was only slightly altered from the first draft she had read but she couldn't help but look at it again.

_Harry James Potter_.

_31 .7. 1980 – 31 .12. 1997 _

_Cause of death: Exhaustion of life energy caused by overexertion of reiki (magical) core. Physical body non-retrievable: see page 14 under 'spontaneous molecular shredding'. _

_Prophecy candidate no: 00547288360_

_Prophecy validated: 31. 10. 1981_

_Prophecy fulfilled: 31 .12. 1997_

Botan blinked back the building pressure in her eyes as water welled there, stubbornly turning the page as she tried to tell herself that this was no different from any other report and she should have the same detachment from its contents that she had exhibited the same day. 'Even if it wasn't any where near as painful then, Harry-kun was just another case but now...I don't know what he is.'

The history was first, a condensed series of events dating back from infancy and, even though it was incredibly concise and non-emotive, it spilled over the first eight pages. She skipped most of these, knowing the story of Voldemort and the infant Harry Potter as well as anyone in her division did, that evil man had been evading the afterlife for a very long time and every death deity had made keeping an eye on him their concern. The first two years of Harry-kun's schooling had already been discussed by him in detail during the reaper tea sessions but the bit before that, his life with the 'Dursleys'... Botan's white-knuckled grip on the report left indents and she barely registered that her entire body was shaking with rage until her hands began to ache in protest. It was a well known fact that Harry had not had a happy childhood, he had told her himself that he had never felt at home until going to Hogwarts but the inhumanity of those dreadful people, spelled out in plain black and white before her, shocked her to the core. "Two concussions, multiple sprains and broken bones, severe physical trauma, malnutrition, stunted growth..." Harry-kun was indeed short for his age, at seventeen and barely five foot four, but Reikai's supply of souls were mostly of Japanese descent, those that followed or interacted with the Shinto teachings. It had been pure coincide that Reikai had been drafted to pick up the victims of the latest Wizarding war, as Godless people were always spread out amongst the gateway realms and sent to the accumulative afterlife that suited them best, be it eternal paradise, reincarnation or otherwise. Botan remembered Koenma's tantrum that day very well, his rant about how he had enough to deal with concerning the regular workload and keeping an eye on the demon realm- Reikai had really drawn the short straw with that one.

'But I didn't notice the really important things because I'm so used to dealing with Japanese spirits! Stupid height difference, why do humans have to be so confusing!?' Botan rubbed away her tears and continued reading, wishing with every page she turned that she had the cowardice to stop.

* * *

_**AN:**_

Phew, this was a long haul! Thank you for everyone that stuck with me and kept prodding and poking me long after this chapter was overdue, my sordid writer's block and I are very appreciative.

One of the reasons this took so long was because of the content of the chapter, such as the details that I still feel are kind of tacked on the end in Botan's segment. I'm seriously thinking about writing a short essay about the ins an outs of Reikai, such as Permanent and Temporary spirits which is one attempt to make the HP and YYH realms mesh. There's also the topic of other 'Gate Worlds' that lead to the afterlife because, let's face it, everyone who goes through Reikai in canon is either Japanese or a demon: that's either rather racist or for a reason, such as there being lots of other deities in charge of the other races of mankind. No, I don't think there are other worlds with demons, there is only one Makai and Koenma deals with all the dead and miscreant demons. Why? Because he drew the short straw, no wonder his father has no sense of humour.

Anyway, if anything in this chapter is confusing, underdeveloped or otherwise lacking then give me a shout and I'll do my best to re-establish ideas in later chapters or put a more detailed summary somewhere.

Oh, and the first person who picks out the Fullmetal Alchemist reference in this chapter gets to decide the Omake for chapter 4, either: Botan's visit to Diagon Alley, Harry invited to Henry's wedding or Harry's first lesson in spirit energy manipulation- choose wisely!

NEXT CHAPTER: Secrets are uncovered, alliances are made, old enemies appear and Hiei and Kurama get lots of screen time (squishes).

Thank you for reading!

Published the 13th of April, 2009


End file.
